An 18-year-old hailing from county Laois is graduating as a fully-fledged US Marine next week.
Jack Leavy was born and lived in Laois until he was nine, when he moved to Florida with his family.
Jack’s mother Jo Foynes is a Clonaslee woman while dad John Leavy hails from Portarlington.
He attended Emo National School and received his First Holy Communion a month before leaving Ireland to relocate to Florida, USA.
Grandparents Jackie and Maura Leavy came all the way from Portarlington to Florida to proudly see their grandson graduate from his training and are extremely pleased to spend their Christmas with him.
Jack underwent United States Marine Corps recruit training.
Each recruit must successfully complete this training in order to serve in the United States Marine Corps.
It’s the longest and most demanding of all the military basic training in the United States.
These grueling weeks of Marine Corps Recruit Training test your moral, mental and physical will.
Boot camp consists of three phases, each one with increasing physical training and mental discipline required.
Each one focuses on a different aspect of the Marine Corps way of life, including physical fitness, martial arts, rifle marksmanship, basic warrior training, and it culminates in the ruthless 54 hour event known as ‘The Crucible’.
Jack’s aunt Mags Foynes and mother Jo wrote about Jack’s amazing accomplishment.
“From an early age, Jack was interested in anything Military… when in a book shop he always gravitated to books about tanks, war planes, in fact he actively sought out anything war related.
“Jack was destined to join the military and chose the Marines, ‘because it is the toughest’ and he wanted to prove he could do it.
Jack says boot camp, ‘was very tough both physically and mentally’.
John and Jo were initially not too thrilled with Jack’s career choice. In fact, he had options and they tried to dissuade him!
For a few months before his ship off date he worked in the electrical business alongside his folks, in their hope that he might pursue a career as an electrician.
“He didn’t want that and reluctantly we agreed to his career choice and signed him up after graduation from high school.”
Having him home for Christmas is just ‘lucky’ and the family intends to make it memorable.
“It may be a while before we can all get together again,” said Jack.
In January, Jack returns to North Carolina for further training as a marine – “Marines are rifle men first,” he added.
Following a month of rifle training he then proceeds to the Marine assigned MOS (Military Occupations Speciality).
Jack intends to use the GI bill in order to get a degree in the future and intends to have the Honor, Commitment and Courage instilled from the Marines to achieve this goal.
We reckon it’s that Laois breeding that has Jack training with the best of the best internationally.
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